Ngäbere language
| Guaymí | |
|---|---|
| Movere | |
| Ngäbere | |
| Pronunciation | [ŋɔˈbeɾe] |
| Native to | Panamá, Costa Rica |
| Region | Central America |
| Ethnicity | Ngäbe |
|
Native speakers
|
170,000 (2000 census) |
|
Chibchan
|
|
| Latin | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | ngab1239 |
Guaymí, or Ngäbere, also known as Movere, Chiriquí, and Valiente, is spoken by the indigenous Ngäbe people in Panama and Costa Rica. The people refer to themselves as Ngäbe (pronounced [ˈŋɔbe]) and to their language as Ngäbere [ŋɔˈbeɾe]. The Ngäbes are the most populous of Panama’s several indigenous peoples. The language is centered in Panama within the semi-autonomous indigenous reservation known as the Comarca Ngäbe-Buglé. Beginning in the 1950s, Costa Rica began to receive Ngäbe immigrants, where are found in several indigenous reservations: Abrojos Montezuma, Conteburica, Coto Brus, Guaymí de Alto Laguna de Osa, and Altos de San Antonio.
Ngäbere is part of the Chibchan language family, which is indigenous to an area that extends from eastern Honduras to northern Colombia. Ngäbere is one of two languages classified under a group called Guaymí. The other is a related but mutually unintelligible language called Buglere, spoken by the Buglé people within the Comarca Ngäbe-Buglé.
While all varieties of Ngäbere are grammatically identical and mutually intelligible, there are phonological and lexical differences that vary from region to region. The people of different regions may use different words for the same concept or pronounce the same word differently. Vowel sounds may change; for example, the word for “to see” that is pronounced /toen/ in some regions may be pronounced /tuen/ in other areas; the word for “you” may be pronounced /mä/ or /ma/ depending on the region. Syllable stress may also vary regionally—for instance, the word for “dove,” ütü, may be pronounced with the accent on the first syllable, or with equal strong accents on both syllables, depending on the speaker’s region. The Penonomeño was somewhat more distinct, but is no longer spoken.
Ngäbere is directly referred to as dialecto (dialect) frequently by both Ngäbes and Latinos. Rolando Rodríguez remarks on this misnomer: “El ngäbere no es una variedad del español o de otra lengua conocida, de manera que por desconocimiento se suele decir dialecto al ngäbere, cuando en realidad es una lengua.” (Ngäbere is not a variety of Spanish or of any other known language. Through ignorance people usually call Ngäbere “dialect,” when in reality it is a language.)
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Wikipedia